Texture Question

[scpatterson]

Im gonna try to explain myself the best I can.....

I use to get sausage from a meat market out in the sticks when I lived in south Miss. My parents still get it. It is a smoked porked sausage and its the best that Ive ever had and thats partly because of the texture...


Now that I done my first run I would like to get the same type texture as theirs....I guess I could ask the next time Im down that way but thats not very often...

Anyway.....

Their texture is real meaty. You can see individual pieces of meat and fat inside the casing, it doesnt look blended together, not like, say Bologna

Now mine was kind of the texture of say Hillshire Farm..Its kind of a smooth texture....

I used the largest plate I have to do mine thinking I would get that texture...What do i need to do to get that meaty texture...

I will say theirs is smoked and mine was fresh. Not sure if smoking changes the texture much but Hillshire Farms smoked has the same smooth texture

this probably makes no sense. Ive tried for 3 days to post this but just dont know how to ask...Thanks

 

[travcoman45]

Your gonna need a larger holed grinder plate fer a courser texture, sumtin in bout 3/8" will get ya perty close I bet. Many slicer come with a 3/16" plate. Ya should be able to order a bigger plate on line.

 

[silverado2100]

Do you remember the hole size of your biggest plate?

Maybe you could use something like this kidney plate

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index....roducts_id=180

 

[meat hunter]

What travcoman said. Sounds like a larger plate is in order. If you have a gander mountain or cabelas around, they should have them.

 

[beer-b-q]

What size grinder #12. #22, #32, do you have and what size plate were you using.

I may have a larger plate for it...

 

[scpatterson]

I took a look and looks like you guys are correct. My grinder did not some with a 10mm plate. It has a medium and fine plate...I will order a new one..thanks guys

 

[scpatterson]

I have the #12 3/4 hp and I was using the medium 7mm plate. Its the biggest i had and did not catch the texture deal before i did it.....

 

[smokingohiobutcher]

Yep! What Tip said, 3/8 Holed grinding plate will get you closer to what you want. Try butcherpacker.com ask for Dennis Wolf...Very informative and helpful. As far as texture goes I am disgusted with the food industry with thier practices to sell products. The only reason that you can only find "Mushy" sausages is because someone figured that if you grind a meat mixture several times it blends the mix so well that they can hide fat in the mix. More mixin = leaner looking product...which is what everyone says we all need to be eating nowadays, FOOEY!!! IT STINKS!! Sorry for the rant but I like to sell product that I don't have to be ashamed of!!

SOB

 

[pops6927]

Absolutely. That's why I make my own in the first place, I can control the fat/lean ratio. I get about 85-90% lean when using whole pork butts if I select them carefully and trim them vs. commercial sausages that are allowed 50% fat. My sausages don't shrink!

 

[jerseyhunter]

Are you sure? In Rytek's book he says the allowable fat content is 30%.

 

[pantherfan83]

What size plate are you ordering? I don't think 3/8 will give you what you want. It will be coarser, but the meat chunks will still be smaller than what I think it sounds like you are looking for. You could hand cube/chop some of the meat and mix it in with the coarse ground meat and that will give you some large chunks. I'm thinking of the Andouille that they make in places like LaPlace, LA that is super chunky and stuffed into beef casings like this: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...t=embedwebsite

 

[hog warden]

I agree with Pops and the Ohio guy. For years I bought my breakfast sausage from a local locker plant. Really liked the spice mix and product they made, and at $2 a pound was a bargain. Then all of a sudden, they started adding extra fat and I was getting to eat half of what I put into the skillet raw and dumping out 1/4 cup of grease from 4 sausage patties. It was ground fine to hide the fat. I thought about complaining, but then decided I didn't need to tell them how to run their business. So I started making my own. Patties and rope (links) I can cold smoke. Get the spices the way you like them and it's every bit as good and what I make goes on a plate vs. into the grease can.

Standard plates for consumer grinders is 3/16". The largest plate I have and would consider making sausage out of is 1/2". That would leave you with some pretty big meat wads to gnaw on.

 

[fourthwind]

Here are some other aspects of getting the texture that hasnt been discussed. Yes you have to have a course plate on the grinder, but the temp of the meat you are grinding is also important. Cube your meat for grinding, then put in the freezer until it is about 50% frozen, then grind. The final temperature of the cooked / smoked sausage also makes a difference. Starting about 155 degree's the fat nodules inside the sausage break down, so dont over cook. In my elk summer sausage I use 50% Elk meat, 25 % pure pork fat, and 25% pork butt. I do not get any shrinkage since I dont take it past 152 degree's, and I get that great chunky consistancy.

 

[mulepackin]

Are you stuffing with a stuffer or a grinder? Grinder stuffing even without a grind plate will tend to macerate the meat even more an make your texture much finer than what you are looking for. A dedicated stuffer will stuff meat the texture that goes into it.

 

[tn_bbq]

I've also seen on TV (never made sausage in my life) where sausage makers put chipped ice in their meat mixture so the fat and fatty meat doesn't break down as much.

Like I said, I've never tried to make sausage but thought I'd pass along the info FWIW.

 

[scpatterson]

Im using a stuffer. I only ran it through the grinder once.....

 

[scpatterson]

I have read where people did use ice. I went by my directions and used cold water but no ice.

I didnt over cook it and it did not shrink any. i had to add a little oil to the pan to cook some, so its nice a lean but it was not too lean as it was really juicy. I also did not freeze it 50% before grinding. Looks like a bigger plate and partial freezing...

 

[okie joe]

Just Grind as has been said by others here coarse .....that is best Now what I do is to dont Over Mix Yes add spices,Icewater, Cure (If ya smoke it) but dont Mix it to death leave chunks of fat and lean,,,,You dont want a weenie texture (emsulfideed) sp and it is all about the Grind and in the mix....my two cents.